Best fits for Nolan Arenado in trade from Cardinals involve teams from both coasts

The St. Louis Cardinals have some of the most attractive trade pieces in all of baseball and are expected to be a popular target this offseason. Along with fan favorite Brendan Donovan, the Cardinals are also known to be looking for a match for their expensive veteran third baseman. After the team failed to deal Nolan Arenado last season, the Gold Glover is likely to expand his list of desired destinations to help facilitate a trade out of St. Louis.

The Los Angeles Angels are viewed as the best fit for third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Last offseason saw rumors swirl around third baseman Nolan Arenado as the Cardinals appeared to be heading towards a transition season. However, talks never progressed into a deal, as the third baseman enacted his no-trade clause and remained with St. Louis for the entirety of another lost campaign. This year, both Arenado and Chaim Bloom acknowledged that it would be best for both parties to be more aggressive in trade talks this time around. Among the presumed trade candidates on the roster, Arenado has the highest probability of being moved.

MLB.com did a recent countdown of the best trade fits for Arenado and broke the possibilities into tiers. Because Arenado prefers to play for a contender and still views himself as an everyday player, teams that are not ready to compete in 2026 and those that already have a third baseman were quickly removed from the list. After nine additional long-shot options, the list finished with the top seven fits for the Cardinals. From seven to one, these teams were the Athletics, Pirates, Phillies, Tigers, Red Sox, D'Backs, and Angels.

The first two teams seem to be interesting fits for the veteran, as both smaller market teams had losing seasons last year and do not appear ready to be legitimate competitors in 2026. The top five, though, can all be viewed as options to take on Arenado and a portion of his remaining two-year contract. Whoever ends up making the deal, St. Louis will likely include half or more of his salary if they plan to receive any valuable assets back in return. At multiple points during last offseason, Arenado appeared ticketed for Los Angeles to play for the Dodgers after social media posts with shoutouts to LA. This winter, MLB believes the other LA team, the Angels, could be the best fit for the third baseman.

The Angels never seem to know what their offseason plan is, and this year is no different. They just traded for young pitcher Grayson Rodriguez and continue to have Mike Trout on the roster, so they do not seem like a team that is just going to go through the motions in 2026. Their third base slot is completely unsettled as well, as Anthony Rendon is no longer an option at third and they went through a carousel at the hot corner trying to fill the void. What the Cardinals could get back from the Angels is a good question, as LAA just offloaded Taylor Ward's salary and have a below-average farm system.

Los Angeles has a mediocre range of mid-tier pitching prospects that could appeal to the Cardinals, but a move to the Angels could end up being more of a salary dump if the prospect capital is underwhelming. In that case, it would be encouraging to see Chaim Bloom reinvest those savings into the rotation to backfill that glaring need.